Foss didn't just gain a flag, a star and a command. He also inherited a $76 million problem: The command's budget must be cut by that amount if Congress passes the $2.48 billion Tradoc budget that Defense Secretary Dick Cheney submitted this year.

In anticipation of the budget's approval, Thurman cut 40 courses from the Army training program. Tradoc is charged with brainstorming battle strategy and also runs most Army schools. Most of the courses cut were refresher or specialized training with few students and just a few weeks in length.

"The answer is I either take the money out of base operations, which means the buildings run down, or I cancel courses," Thurman said last week. He added, however, that the course cancellation cuts only about $9 million from the $85 million that he needed to shave. He said that base operations accounts would likely be reduced.

Only minutes on the job, Foss declined comment on the budget cuts and whether they might mean reductions in jobs. "Hopefully, we're not going to do that here at Fort Monroe," Tradoc's headquarters.

Foss is no stranger to Hampton or Tradoc. He was stationed here at Tradoc's inception in 1973 and remained four years.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Carl Vuono said after the ceremony that budget cuts will not hinder the Army from training soldiers. "We'll make the necessary adjustments to keep the level of training where it is."

The adjustments may be greater than planned, if the House Appropriations Committee has its way. A full-committee report on the budget out this week recommends another $29.3 million reduction in Tradoc's budget. In a three-sentence paragraph, the committee report cites unspecified duplicity in the command.

It also says the General Accounting Office - the investigative arm of Congress - the Defense Department Inspector General and Army audits "have identified other abuses" within the command.

Budget concerns were not apparent during the ceremony, which differed from most change of command festivities in that it was run by sergeants. This was in keeping with the Army's "Year of the NCO" theme for 1989.

While the enlisted personnel were well represented in the formations, the brass was not absent. Five of the Army's 11 four-star generals attended the ceremony in Continental Park, as well as Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh Jr.

As a 17-gun salute was fired to the generals, a small plane flew into view overhead, carrying a banner that read: "Welcome Home USS Puget Sound."

The ceremony continued as the Navy destoyer tender Puget Sound loomed closer in the background, making its way through the nearby Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel channel. Remarked one major dryly: "I'm sure those sailors thought that salute was for them."